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Originally Posted by Ati  I'm an early bird as well, and have done just what you are talking about, more or less step by step. Now, for the past 2 + months, I've been regularly getting up at 3:45AM in order to get 2 hours of guitar practicing in, before leaving for work. Being the early bird that I am (with just the reverse circadian rhythm as you describe, Alarin!), I also find that work days go phenomenally better when I get in early as well. |
Cool, that's fantastic Ati
! I think most of the population would have a lot more energy and health if they could follow their body clock like that, although sadly the 9-5 routine does force most people to work on someone else's clock unless they've got a flexible employer. You must be pretty good at guitar with all that practice!
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Originally Posted by coma Hi Guys,
I'd like to reduce the hours I sleep too -- to make way for more productive activities, however, I've been facing massive resistance getting down to sub 8 hours.. I have 2 questions:
1. Do you think sleeping less just creates a sleep debt which can possibly be stored for weeks, months, even years? I know of some workaholics which claim that they get by 4-5 hours of sleep a day but they crash on the weekends. Is less sleep sustainable in the long run?
2. Has anybody tried to gain weight (muscle that is) and survive with less sleep at the same time? Cos i am trying to do so, but it feels very unnatural and my body keeps telling me that I need to sleep! |
Yes I think if you're not sleeping enough for your particular body clock then you can create sleep debt / run yourself down to the point where it's physically noticeable. Sleep is crucial in repairing the body's systems, digesting food, producing seratonin, and lots of other good stuff that keeps us healthy, so yes I believe not enough sleep can definately have a detrimental effect.
However having said that "not enough sleep" depends entirely on your body clock and how often you sleep - I know people who can get by on 3 hours a night continuously because they sleep for an hour or two every afternoon. I know other people who sleep 10+ hours a night and still wake up groggy because they haven't learnt to listen to their body clock. The trick is to work out how much sleep is right for -you- personally, and you can cut that down too by exercising and getting lots of natural sunlight. So in answer to your question yes I do think less sleep is sustainable in the long run if the sleeper knows what they're doing which is just a matter of research and experimentation. If not they might actually be better off getting 8 hours a night as at least that way they can't do themselves too much harm.
For your second question, I'm not surprised your body is telling you to sleep
Building muscle is apparently one of the most tiring things your body can do, and for muscle to successfully repair itself for the next weights encounter your body needs rest and relaxation. There's a great book called "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips which is all about that kind of thing - building muscle, sleep, nutrition, etc. One point he keeps making is that you have to give your body time to recuperate between workouts of you cause your muscles more damage and undo all the good work you've done. Part of that recuperation is sleep and more of it than you usually need. In other words don't push yourself too hard when you're putting your body under stress and sleep if you're tired, and if you sleep lots don't feel bad as you can always train your body to sleep less once you've lessened back on the workouts and it doesn't need the sleep so much, if that makes sense
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